Ive had my sliders for about a year now, doing great, and ever since my buddy set up his marine tank ive been wondering about all the water parameters in my tank. I bought a freshwater master test kit and started testing...:
1. TEMP. 78-82. Were all well aware of that one. This is where the info seems to end though....
2. pH. Ive read a lot of conflicting info on this one. To sum it up anywhere between 6.0-8.0 seems to be ok. That really seems like a ridiculously big range to me. I wonder what the actual pH of the Louisana/Florida swamps are where these little critters seem to come from. Mine is around 7.6
3. ALKALINITY. This is basicaly a measure of the "buffering capacity" of your water and its ability to resist flucuations in pH. Its usually measured in KH which stands for carbonate hardness. Its a reflection of how much calcium carbonate (CO3) and bicarbonate (HCO3) is present in the water. The standard for freshwater tanks seems to be 120-180ppm but im assuming turtles would like a higher rating to strengthen their shell. Mine is really low at 40ppm. I suspect this is due to the RODI system im using.
4. HARDNESS. Also know as GH or general hardness is a measure of the calcium (Ca2) and magnesium (Mg2) ions in the water. Really hard water would be around 400ppm. Mine is 80ppm again due to the RODI. Dont really know what RES would like ideally....
Any thoughts.....
